Glass-pot-filling machine.



A. G. MAXWELL.

GLASS POT FILLLNG MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNEH. 1917- Lgfififil 1., Patenm May 14, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET WITNESSES INVENTOR WWW ALEXANDER GMAXWELL.

A. G. MAXWELL.

GLASS POT FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11. I917.

1 ,966 5 1 1 Patented. May 14, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR ALEXANDER G. MAXWELL WITNESSES UNEZTEB STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

ALEXANDER G. MAXWELL, 0F SPRINGDALE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 'IO JOSEPH HEIDENKAMP, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

GLASS-POT-FILLING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed June 11, 1917. Serial No. 174,063.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER G. MAX- WELL, a resident of S ringdale, in the county of Allegheny and gtate of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Glass -Pot Filling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to glass pot filling machines.

In preparing glass for casting plate glass and the like, the glass making materials are put in pots or crucibles in a furnace where they are heated until they assume a liquid state. These pots or crucibles are usually filled by the use of ladles carried by hand. The operator fills the ladle with a sand mixture of proper constituency from a bin or store of such material, carries the ladle to a furnace, inserts it through an opening called the glory hole, and dumps the contents into a glass pot. This is an exceedingly hard and hot task, because the materials are heavy and the heat from the furnace is excessive. Furthermore, it requires that a relatively large number of laborers be employed for filling the glass pots.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an improved machine for filling glass pots.

Another object is to provide a machine of simple structure which is capable of moving a glass pot filling ladle in all directions necessary for properly inserting it in and withdrawing it from a furnace.

A further object is to provide a portable glass pot filling machine which may be utiliZed in any part of the factory for filling glass pots in the furnaces.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following specification An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, the views of which are as follows:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

'Fig. 8 is a side elevation viewing the ma chine from the control side thereof;

Fig, 4. is a section on the line 1-4 of Fig. 1;

. Fig. 5 is a cross section of a portion of the mechanism showing particularly the valve for controlling the flow of material to the filling ladle; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the mechanism located beneath the main platform of the machine for varying the level of the carriage upon which the filling ladle is mounted.

The machine comprehends in a general way a power-operated easily controlled mechanism by means of which the ladle 1 may be moved at various angles through the furnace door and into the furnace to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, there dumped and returned to the full line position, refilled with glass making material from the conveying mechanism 2, and the operation repeated.

The machine is preferably made portable and for this purpose it is mounted upon a truck having a platform 3 and wheels 4. This truck may be of any suitable construction, preferably of metal. As shown, it is constructed so that it may be moved about the glass factory to any desired position.

The mechanism for manipulating the ladle comprises in general an annular frame 10 pivoted in hearings on the truck platform 3, a second annular frame 11 mounted to rotate on the first, and a reciprocable carriage 12 operated by the power driven shaft 13 and supporting the shaft 14 carrying the ladle 1. The latter shaft may be rotated by means of the control wheel 15 so that the ladle can be turned about its axis.

It will be noted that by means of this combination of mechanisms the ladle may be moved to practically any position. The truck can be moved to vary the whole position of the machine, the frame 10 can be tilted about a horizontal axis to vary the vertical angle of movement of the ladle, the frame 11 may be moved about a vertical axis to vary the horizontal angle of movement of the ladle, and the shaft 14 may be turned to turn the ladle about its own axis to dump its contents or turn it to a position to be filled with glass making material.

The frame 10 preferably comprises an annular metal ring having trunnions 20 which are mounted in bearings 21 on the truck platform 3. The upper or top surface of this ring has a semicircular groove 22 therein, which is complementary to a similar groove 23 in the bottom face of the annular frame 11. Steel balls 24 are located in these grooves so as to permit the frame 11 to be easily turned about frame 10. It is to be understood that any other suitable construction may be used for mounting the frame 11 so that it can be turned relative to the frame 10.

The angular position of the frame 10 is varied by means of a controlling wheel 25 fixed to one end of a shaft 26, the other end of which carries a worm 27 meshing with a worm gear 28 on a shaft carrying a spur gear 2S -that in turn meshes. with a rack 29 pivoted-tothe frame 10 at the point 30. a By this means the position of the frame may be easily changed but at the same time it is firmly held in any position to which it is moved by reason of the worm gear control mechanism. The worm 27 and worm gear 28 form a self locking gear, as it is Well known that such gears work only when the power is applied to the worm. The exact construction of this control mechanism may, of course, be varied, and any other suitable form may be substituted, but the control wheel.25 is preferably located at the side of the machine, where it is now shown, so that it will be readily accessible along with the wheels or levers for controlling the other elements of the machine. 1

The frame 11 is turned about the frame 10 by means of a controlling wheel 31 fixed to one endof a shaft 32 journ'aled in an extension 33 of the frame 10. The other end of this shaft carries a pinion or gear 34 that meshes with the teeth 35in a portion of the periphery of the frame 11. These teeth may be formed-directly in the frame or a suitable arc-shaped rack may be attached to the frame. By turning the wheel 31 the frame 11 may be easily turned about to'vary the line of reciprocation of the ladle in a horizontal planeand to swing the ladle over a glass pot after it has been inserted into the furnacethrough the glory hole. This'control is made direct as it is generally desirable for the operator to have a quickly responsive control of the ladle in this direction so that he can steer it into the furnace andquickly move it laterally over one of the glass pots. 1

The frame 11 has mounted thereacross a base or. block 35 in which the reciprocating carriage -12 islocated. The frame also has an extension36 upon which is mounted vthe motor'37 and the transmission mechanism through which the carriage 12 is reciprocated. 1

The driving shaft 13 is journaled in the block 35 and has fixed thereto a gear 40 which meshes with the rack teeth 41 in the 1 bottom' of the reciprocating carriage 12.

loosely journaled in a bearing 44 in a hearj ournaled in bearing 44 so that it may have I a limited lateral movement, and itearrieson its end a friction transmissiondisk 46. This disk may be moved into frictional engagement with either of the friction driving wheels 47 or 48, both of which are attached to the shaft 49 driven by the motor 37. The means for moving this disk comprises a control lever 50 having a pin and slot connection with the end of transmission shaft 43 and being journaled in the bearing block 45 and a similar block 51, both of which are carried bylthe frame 11. The shaft has an extension or handle 52, shown inaFig. 1, which may be raised or lowered to thereby turn the shaft about its axis and swingthe end of the transmission shaft 43 in one direction or the other to'engage or disengage the disk 46 from one of the friction wheels.

Accordingly, by moving the handle 52 up ,or down, the operator may reciprocate the carriage 12 in either direction and stop it when desired. The normal position of the friction disk 46 is midway between the disks 47 and 48 so that normally there is no force tending to move the carriage 12.

The carriage 12 comprises a suitable reciprocatorv metal block arranged to reciprocate in a dovetailed slot 55 in the top of the base or block 35. The bottomof the carriage 1s provided with rack teeth 41 by means of which it may be reciprocated. as hereinbefore described, and on the top of the carriage is rotatably mounted the shaft-14 to one end of which is keyed or otherwise fastened the shaft or shank 56 ofthe ladle 1. The shaft 14 preferably has fixed thereto a disk 57 which rotates in a groove 58 in the carriage 12. thereby permitting the shaft to be rotated in the carriage but preventing it belng moved longitudinally therein. The control end of the shaft is connected to the wheel 15 by means which permits the shaft to be reciprocated relative to the wheel but at the same time causes it to be rotated whenever the wheel is turned. For this purpose the shaft is provided with a slot or slots 60 which cooperates with pins or projections 61 in the wheel 15. V

Although the operator has read ycontrol of the mechanism for reciprocating the car riage, it is nevertheless desirable as a matter of safetly to provide means for stopping the reciprocation of the carriage 12 when it has reached the extreme limits of its movement. In order to accomplish this, the shaft with a downwardly extending projection '65 whichlis engaged by stops 66 and 67 carried bv the carriage 12. When the carriage reaches the extreme end of its movement in a lefthand; direction, viewed in Fig. 1, the stop 67 engages the projection 65, as shown, and

moves the control shaft 50 so as to position the disk 46 midway between the disks 417 and 18. In a similar manner, when the carriage reaches its extreme right-hand position the stop 66 engages the projection 65 and moves the disk l6 to neutral position.

It is sometimes desirable, where the opening in the furnace is relatively small, as compared with the size of the ladle 1, to have the ladle positioned accurately vertically as it is inserted into and withdrawn from the furnace. The arrangement for this purpose illustrated prevents the ladle from being rotated in both directions and hence it will not be used generally, but where it is desired. The wheel 15 attached to the rotatable shaft 14: is provided with a stop 68 which engages stops 69 and 70 on the base 35 (see Fig. 2). The parts are arranged so that when the stop 68 is in engagement with the stop 70, the ladle is in accurate vertical position with its open side up, and when the stop 68 is in engagement with the stop 69, the ladle is in accurate vertical position but upside down. The operator, by always turning the wheel 15 until the stops engage before moving the ladle through the furnace door, knows that his ladle is in correct position to permit it to pass through the furnace door opening.

The elevating and conveying mechanism 2 is located at one corner of the platform 3 of the truck and comprises a bucket conveyer for elevating glass making material from the portable bin or batch wagon 7 6 which is preferably in the form of a trailer truck. The conveyer 7 5 is pivoted in bearings 7 7 fixed to the frame 7 8 of the main body of the conveyer so that the conveyer 7 5 may be moved about its axis and thrown up against the frame 7 8 when the mechanism is not in use. The free end of the conveyer 75, when in use, rests on the material in the batch wagon 76. The conveyer 75 delivers to a chute 7 9, which feeds a second bucket conveyer within the housing 78. The second bucket conveyer delivers to a chute 81 through which the materal is delivered to the ladle 1 when it is in the position shown in Fig. 1. Both of these conveyers are driven by an electric motor 82 mounted on the truck platform and arranged to drive the conveyers through the medium of the chains 83 and 84. It is to be understood that while this conveying mechanism is believed to be novel and is particularly adapted for the purpose, nevertheless it may be varied in detail to suit the requirements of different types and sizes of machines.

The delivery of material through the chute 81 to the ladle 1 is controlled by any suitable form of valve, as for example, the slide valve 85 shown in Fig. 5, which closes the mouth of the chute in the position shown, but may" be moved through the medium of a pinion 86 on the end of a control shaft 87 to the opposite end of which is attached a controlling wheel 88.

The operation of the mechanism is briefly as follows:

The machine is moved adjacent the furnace containing the pots which it is desired to fill and the operator then positions the frames 10 and 11 by means of the control wheels 25 and 31, so that the ladle 1 may be inserted and withdrawn through the furnace door at the proper angle. The elevating and conveying mechanism is run practically continuously so that the delivery chute 82 is filled with glass making material. After the frames 10 and 11 have been properly positioned, the valve 86 is opened for a sufficiently long time to fill the ladle 1 with material. The control handle 52 is then moved in the proper direction to cause the carriage 12 and ladle 1 to be moved forward to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1. The arrangement of pots in the furnace is generally such that two pots are filled through one door opening. Consequently after the ladle is moved into the furnace, the frame 11 is rotated to position the ladle above the pot it is desired to fill. The op erator then grasps the wheel 15 and turns the shaft 14 and ladle 1 about its axis, dumping the contents into the glass pot. He then returns the frame 11 to proper position, moves the control lever 52, withdraws the ladle 1 from the furnace to the full line position shown in Fig. 1, and turns the wheel 15 so as to turn the ladle 1 into a position to be refilled with another charge.

If at any time, the carriage 12 is reciprocated farther than is intended and to the extreme limit of its permissible movement, the reciprocation is automatically stopped by the engagement of the stop 66 or 67 with the projection 65 on the control shaft 50. There is therefore no danger of damaging the machine by moving the reciprocating carriage too far.

It will be noted that all the control levers and wheels are located adjacent each other at one side of the machine, where they are within the radius of operation of one operator. Consequently the entire machine may be operated and controlled by one man. It will occasionally be necessary to fill the batch wagon 7 6 with glass making material, but this may be done by either moving the wagon to a source of supply or substituting a filled wagon for the one that has been emptied.

Electric motors are preferably used for driving the mechanism for obvious reasons, and further, because power may be supplied to the machine through cables attached to suitable outlets about the plant or by suitably located trolley wires.

It will thus be seen that a simple, efficient power-operated machine has been provided for doing the difficult work which hasheretofore been done principally by a large number of laborers. This machine may be controlled by a single operator and it is constructed so that the filling ladle may be manipulated in all required directions to properly fill the pots.

It is to be understood that the structure shown is for purposes of illustration only and that many variations may be made therein without departing fro-m the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

That I claim is 1. In a glass pot filling machine, the combination of a frame arranged to swing about both a horizontal and a vertical axis, a ladle mounted to reciprocate on said frame, power mechanism for reciprocating said ladle on said frame to introduce the same into and withdraw the same from a furnace, and means for automatically arresting the reciprocating movement of said ladle in both directions.

2. In a portable glass pot filling machine, the combination of an annular frame mounted to be tilted about a horizontal axis, a second annular frame mounted to rotate on the first frame, a reciprocable carriage mounted on the second frame, power operated mechanism carried by the second frame for reciprocating said carriage, and a filling ladle carried'by the carriage.

3. In a portable glass pot filling machine, the combination of a portable truck, a frame mounted on said truck and tiltable about a substantially horizontal axis, a second frame mounted to rotate on the first frame, a reciprocable carriage on the second frame, mechanism on said second frame for recipe rocating said carriage, and a ladle carried by said carriage.

4. A portable glass pot filling machine, comprising a portable truck having an an nular frame mounted thereon arranged to be tilted about a horizontal axis, a second annular frame mounted to rotate on the first, a reciprocable carriage mounted on the second frame, power operated mechanism carried by the second frame and arranged to reciprocate the carriage, a filling ladle carried by the carriage, and elevating and conveying means mounted on the truck for transferring glass making material to the ladle;

5. A portable glass pot filling machine having a frame mounted on a truck so that it may be tilted about a horizontal axis, a second frame rotatably mounted on the first, a reciprocable carriage mounted on the second frame, means on said carriage supporting a filling ladle, power mechanism carried by saidsecond frame, transmission mechanism for connecting the power mechanism with the reciprocable carriage and arranged to be controlled so that the carriage may be moved in either direction, and elevating and conveying means for supplying glass making material to the ladle.

6. A portable glass pot filling machine comprising a truck having a platform, an annular frame pivoted on said platform, a second annular frame rotatably mounted on the first, a bed block carried by the second frame in which is slidably mounted a reciprocable carriage, means mounted on the carriage for supporting a filling ladle, power' driven mechanism carried by the second frame, transmission mechanism between sald power means and the reciprocable carriage 'arrangedso that it may be controlled to reciprocate the carnage in elther direction,

and elevatingand conveying means mounted on the truck platform by means of which glassmaking material may be supplied to the ladle.

7. A portable glass pot filling machine having a frame pivoted to swing about a horizontal axis, means for adjusting the position of the frame so that it will remain in the position to which it is moved, a second frame rotatably mounted on the first, means for turning the second frame on the first, a reciprocable carriage mounted on the second frame, a filling'ladle carried by said carriage, power operated friction driving disks carried by said second frame, a transmission mechanism arranged to frictionally engage either of said disks and connected so as to reciprocate the carriage, means for controlling the transmission mechanism so that the carriage may be reciprocated in either direction, mechanism for automati-' cally stopping the carriage when it has reached the limit of its movement, and elevating and conveying means for supplying glass making material to theladle.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

ALEXANDER G. MAXWELL.

Witnessz GLENN H. LEREscHE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 6: mm,

, Washington, D. 0. 

